John 5: ‘Slayer Is Chaos That Crosses Generations’

This week, Loudwire pays tribute to Slayer, who kick off their final tour on May 10 in San Diego. The thrash metal titans took the genre to faster, louder, and creepier places than anyone ever had, and they've influenced scores of extreme metal bands. From dissections of their songs to never-before-told stories, we're celebrating all things Slayer.

John 5 now joins Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe and Mastodon’s Troy Sanders in offering Slayer tributes. “It’s just like getting introduced to a different color,” John 5 says about Reign in Blood. “I’ve known these certain colors my whole life and now I’m introduced to this even blacker than black color.”

“I loved [Jeff Hanneman] so much,” John says of the late riff lord. “For all the Slayer shows I went to as a kid, I’d be in front of Kerry and then I would walk around the whole venue and I would go in front of Jeff. I’d stand in front of Jeff, rock out, then do it again. That’s just what I did, I loved them both.”

John adds, “My son, who is 13; he loves Slayer. He’s into Kanye and he’s into all this other stuff and he loves Slayer. We went over to Kerry’s house and he was so excited, he was so quiet. Slayer just goes from generation to generation to generation, because it’s just so great. I’m gonna miss seeing them live.”